SL President not prepared to consider demands of TPPs until 27 September

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 September 2018, 16:27 GMT]The health condition of the Tamil political prisoners who have been on a hunger strike since 14 September has deteriorated and two of the hunger strikers have been admitted to the prison hospital at Anuradhapura, the families of the prisoners said. In the meantime, a group of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians who visited the fasting prisoners have told them that TNA Leader and Opposition Leader R. Sampanthan had taken their matter with SL President Maithiripala Sirisena before the latter travelled to New York to address the UN General Assembly. Mr Maithiripala had told Mr Sampanthan that he would only be able to think about the matter of Tamil prisoners after 27 September, after the UN meetings were over.

The TNA parliamentarians have conveyed the message to the fasting prisoners on Friday, the families said.

In the meantime, TNA Parliamentarian Sivasakthy Ananthan who also visited the hunger strikers at Anuradhapura prison have blamed the TNA hierarchy for failing to stand with the struggling masses on the ground.

The TNA leaders have taken the side of the establishments that want to protect and promote the occupying SL military which has committed heinous war crimes against Eezham Tamils, he said.

Sooriyakanthi Jeyachandran and Rasapallavan Thavaroopan are the two of the hunger-striking prisoners admitted to the prison hospital. One of them is a diabetic patient, the families said.

Meanwhile, Tamil National People’s Front and Mass Movement for Social Justice staged a protest in Jaffna on Friday.